- Today, we began class by taking a short quiz over week 1 material (All material was found in the Quizlet for Chap 1)
- We began our study of the Chesapeake Bay
- Discussed the following:
- eutrophication -excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen
- detritus - organic matter produced by the decomposition of organisms\
- microbes - microscopic organisms that eat detritus
- We talked about issues with algae blooming in the Chesapeake Bay (Click here to view the slides - IntroductionChesapeakeBay)
- We learned about dead zones.
- Follow a step by step process of how dead zones are made. The steps to follow are below:
- In normal ecosystem low nutrient levels (limiting factors) keep algae in check
- Adding nutrients causes algal blooms
- Algae die and become detritus (decaying matter)
- Detritus is decomposed by microbes, microbe populations boom
- Microbes use the oxygen in the water
- Low dissolved oxygen in the water kills fish and other organisms
- Dead zones appear in the Bay where nothing can live
- Follow a step by step process of how dead zones are made. The steps to follow are below:
- We worked in pairs to analyze a food web from the Chesapeake Bay 300 years ago, before large-scale fishing of the bay.
- We used this food web image to complete the Chesapeake Bay Worksheet Part 1 & we discussed answers. We will finish this study on Wednesday (maybe.... it depends on how much discussion we have on Wednesday. It may take until the following week!)
- Study the Quizlet over our Chesapeake Bay lesson.
- Watch these videos before tomorrow's class:
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